SRJC Web – A Bigger Picture
This document lays out the history of, current issues with, and possible solutions for
the SRJC Web site.
History
The current “design” of the SRJC Web site was created about 10 years ago by a group
of people from Public Relations, IT (then Computing Services), and other
stakeholders. Since then, the rollout of web pages following the “standard” design
has been slow and with many changes to the standard over the last 10 years.
Design staff has consisted entirely of STNCs, supported by very limited funding from
the PR budget. The College’s web needs quickly outstripped the available budget,
and additional funding needed to come from the departments requesting web work.
This resulted in many project delays, contractions, or even abandonment. This
remained the funding model until present day.
Current Issues
The “standard” template was written about 10 years ago, before modern CSS code
had been created. Because of this, some of the SRJC templates rely on using tables
for layout instead of divs and CSS. Additionally, the font list includes non-standard
web-fonts and conflicting font designs. Finally, there are many different “versions”
of the template floating around and being used by many different departments with
some even calling different versions of the top masthead and different include files.
Some design decisions—including font choices—were committee– or client–driven,
with best practices standards sometimes taking a back seat to stake-holder opinion.
The standard must be redesigned with adherence to current W3C best practices and
standards, while keeping in mind the College’s need and intent for mobile platform
and Web 2.0 integration.
Consistency
Moving forward, Public Relations and IT would like to see a consistency in the
following areas:
1. Code – Modernize the code-base including HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
2. Templates – One template—with a variety of sub-templates, permitting
individualization—that everyone uses; see CMS section below.
3. Accessibility – All sites should be consistently accessible, in according with
Federal Section 508 and California Education code.
4. UI – All sites should employ a consistent user interface that allows students,
the public, and others to be able to easily and intuitively navigate our site
from whatever page they are on.
5. Removal of dead pages – Dead and abandoned pages should be removed so
there isn’t conflicting information on our website. This also helps with Search
Engine Optimization (SEO).
6. Training – See Training section below. We need more consistent staff
training so that everyone who updates websites will be on the same page.
7. Brand and Message – Consistent design, logo use, and UI all contribute to a
consistent brand and message that helps the college be more effective in its
mission.
CMS
One of the solutions to many of the issues we currently have with our website is to
investigate Content Management Systems. There are many free CMSs that are
available (Drupal, Joomla, etc), and others that would cost money. However, the
overall idea behind a CMS addresses many of the issues we currently have:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Modernize the code base to provide optimal performance
Consistent User Interface
Consistent navigation
Template based – Allows content and design to be separate and easy to
change
5. Sub-templates – Allows individual pages to display content differently but
remain within the scope of the main template. (Image galleries, web-forms,
etc)
6. User-level permissions to allow / deny access to specific pages and templates
7. Easy mobile-site creation, see Mobile section below
8. Training – instead of different clients, all would use a web-based interface to
interact with the design / content changes (Saves district money on program
licenses like Dreamweaver)
9. Allows for better SEO
10. 90% of the people can do 90% of what they need to do.
11. Could we make our own CMS? Probably, but why reinvent the wheel and
spend extra time and money?
12. Easy wholesale site-wide changes with one edit.
Before fully researching CMSs, we should interview other community colleges to see
what they are using for web management: what they like, dislike, would change, and
if they have any recommendations.
Additionally, we need to take into consideration the custom pages for things like
schedule of classes, registration, application process, and others so that we can
minimize the work needed to either convert these pages into the CMS, use inline
views, or take pieces from the CMS to use on the custom pages.
Social and Marketing
In terms of marketing, online communications is, arguably, now the primary
medium. Adults in their late 30s have been using the internet since high school, and
their children, who have never known a world without the internet, are now the
majority of our customers. Lower income groups that have not had the same kind of
internet access are rapidly catching up via mass adoption of smart phones, meaning
that our commitment to equal access demands greater attention and resources for
mobile usage.
The “socialization” of internet communications that has accompanied Web 2.0 has
created a new set of expectations in our customers in terms of when, where and
how we communicate with them. Use of social media such as Facebook, YouTube
and Twitter, and the need to stay current with future trends in such media, presents
its own set of demands and challenges. We have a pressing need to present fresh,
useful, and engaging information on third-party sites over which we have limited
control, and must be cognizant of ever-changing terms of use. This requires a
significant amount of time and industry savvy on the part of social media
administrators.
Mobile
Mobile computing has become very popular, and currently, our web site is not very
mobile friendly. There are several ways to do mobile web design:
1. Detect device-type - requires management
2. Detect device browser max-width – Better, as you don’t have to continually
update the kind of device you are detecting and is platform agnostic.
3. Responsive Web Design – Newest idea, all websites see the same view,
however based on width of browser window, some elements are hidden,
changed, or simplified.
CMSs may allow for easy creation of mobile-websites so work doesn’t have to be
duplicated.
Mobile content should always be the same as desktop content. There should never
be two distinct sites offering the same information – this doubles the web
management workload, and increases the likelihood of errors. The only change
should be the design of the page by utilizing CSS.
Policy and Procedure
Consistent policy and procedure are both key to maintaining the web. By having a
clearly understandable policy that is shared between the stakeholders, we can
minimize duplication of workload, achieve greater efficiency and improve
communications with our customers. A clear procedure helps the end users get the
most out of their web sites and allows for quick content updates.
Training
If a CMS is put in place, we will need to set up regular trainings for all who will be
updating the web. There are many ways a CMS can simplify web updates, however,
for those few who may want to have advanced design, the new Web Design position
can help be a center-point for providing either one-on-one trainings for subtemplate design, or direct creation of sub-templates.
Web Standards Committee
In order to accomplish these goals of consistency and modernization, a Web
Standards committee should be formed. Official committee decisions would allow
changes to the website to be backed by a unified body. This would include people
from:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Public Relations
IT
Library
Admissions and Records
Student Services
A committee could help decide if we should use a CMS, what kind of mobile site to
go with, the creation of policies and procedures, who conducts trainings, and
importantly, the long term strategic goals for SRJC web communications.